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America. The reply was astonishing. Khun Sa stated that his THE SPY DRUG-MEISTER entire opium supply—approx. 900 tons per year, at the time—was An immensely powerful "insider", Armitage had arranged for ought by the US Government. The warlord then stated he want- Colonel Dave Brown to be placed next to the President Reagan as ed to change production as he hated opium, and if Gritz could get —_ a military liaison on a daily basis. The purpose of this move was, the US to provide just one-tenth of what it spent in the War on in the words of one individual familiar with these events, to "sub- Drugs in the region, he would shift production to other crops. tly influence his thinking daily". Moreover, "other actions of this An amazed Gritz took this suggestion back to the US type had been instituted in key departments and agencies".'° Government and was further amazed to learn that the offer was With President Reagan effectively muzzled, Armitage and his spurned. The former Green Beret Colonel was also warned that small coterie of Washington movers and shakers believed they e would become a target of US dirty tricks if he didn't back away were untouchable. To a large extent they were. from the opium subject. Ignoring these threats, Gritz travelled Already the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Armitage was nom- ack to Burma five months later, in May 1987, for a second meet- inated in February 1989, following Bush's presidential election ing with Khun Sa. This time he took a video recorder and asked victory, to become Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Khun Sa to name the names of those responsible, on camera. Affairs. This move was blocked and, instead, Armitage was nom- Khun Sa instructed his secretary to read the names from his inated for the post of Secretary of the Army. diary, but stipulated that the names he would reveal were old ones Behind the scenes, a virtual war was in progress as the and not those with whom he was presently doing business. The Department of Justice and the FBI fought to indict Armitage for US Government officer responsible for buy- his narcotics and other criminal activities. ing the opium crop was Richard Armitage, a These measures were powerfully resisted by high-level and well-known administration Attorney General Thornburg, a political official. Armitage was working, the secre- appointee of President Bush. tary read, with an individual named Santos The US Government Significantly, however, Armitage was Trafficante who operated as Armitage's "traf- Fi Fi also under scrutiny by Federal investigators fic manager". Gritz was well aware of who officer responsible for working for the President's Commission on Trafficante was: the legendary Florida buying the opium crop Organized Crime, which had a focus on for- "Boss" of the Mafia. . . eign-organised criminal activity in gamblin, During a 1991 lecture, Gritz pointed out was Richard Armitage, a and drug trafficking. This resulted from the economics of Khun Sa's asec 000 high-level and well- Armitage's close association with a to the US. The warlord was paid $300,000 ss . Vietnamese woman, Ngdyet Tui (Nanette) per ton by the US Government, but the prod- known administration O'Rourke. uct sold on the street for $1 million per official. O'Rourke was at the centre of an extreme- pound. "No one wants him out of busi- ly large-scale gambling ring operated ness", Gritz observed wryly. by US-based Vietnamese. She was acti said that on bis return te Armitage was working awarded US citizenship according to merica in e attempted to ge . ass one source, under "highly suspect cir- someone in the administration, includ- with an individual named cumstances". She was also suspected ing View President George Bush, to uke Santos Trafficante who or being a prostinnte. As investigators note of his information. His approaches . eveloped their case, they came to were again forcefully spurned. operated as Armitage’s believe that Armitage's association As a gesture of goodwill to the US “traffic manager". with O'Rourke dated back to his ser- Government, Khun Sa wrote a letter, vice in Vietnam, when he is thought to dated 15 March 1988, to George Bush, have operated a shady bar with her in offering him, free and gratis, one ton of Saigon. There were also suspicions "No. 4 pure Asian heroin". This was that O'Rourke operated as Armitage's the warlord's way of offering an incen- "courier". tive for the US to reach an agreement Another source who was involved in aimed at converting production from opium to another crop. these investigations noted that "nearly every Vietnamese woman Bush didn't respond to the letter, and the response of the US State involved in major gambling operations on the east coast [USA] is Department was "no interest". married to an American who is either CIA or has connections to Disgusted, Gritz began actively campaigning to alert Americans the Agency"— including O'Rourke's husband. just what their government has been doing in their name. This Meanwhile, yet another investigator who believed Armitage eventually resulted in Gritz being arraigned on criminal charges was "dirty" was frustrated in his investigations by Secretary of for using a false passport during one of his visits to Burma. Defense Frank Carlucci and other powerful patrons. In 1975, dur- Pleading guilty to the charge, but pointing out that this was stan- ing Armitage's CIA tour in Vietnam, Carlucci was the No. 2 man dard procedure in the world of "black operations", he was found in the CIA. innocent by the jury. Because of the numerous high-level obstructions, investigations Since then, Gritz has become an outspoken critic of successive into Armitage's criminal activities were curtailed, but not before governments and their duplicitous, secret policies, and as a conse- some damaging information had been gathered. Not least of this quence has suffered at the hands of a wretchedly biased media. was Armitage's special relationship with O'Rourke. Investigators Despite this, Gritz's central story has not been abandoned. discovered a photo, believed to have been taken professionally, Others have taken up the call from behind the scenes. Quiet showing a naked O'Rourke posing in her bedroom with a partly investigations into the hidden activities of Richard Armitage undressed Armitage. This, and other factors, led investigators began in earnest. and, in fact, some very influential political insiders, to conclude official. Operated as Armitage's “traffic manager". 30 + NEXUS THE SPY DRUG-MEISTER The US Government known administration Santos Trafficante who FEBRUARY - MARCH 1998